Articles
Responding to the Evils Around Us
All around us are all kinds of bizarre behavior, sinful lifestyles, and strange ideas that currently trouble our land. How shall we respond?
Some Christians, sad to say, gaze at the evil and are drawn into it. How easy it is to find our resistance gradually being lowered by the constant exposure to sins that once shocked us! God’s people in the Old Testament were vulnerable to being swallowed up by the sins of their neighbors. It can happen to us too! (1 Cor. 10:12; Eph. 4:17-24; 2 Tim. 4:10).
On the other hand, while we may never indulge in the blatant sins of our society, we may be tempted to look down on those who do. We may forget that we too are sinners in need of the grace of God and that we have something positive to offer those who are mired in sinful lifestyles (Luke 15:1-2, 25-32; 18:9-14).
A third reaction is thinking that the situation is so far gone that there’s no use even trying to make a difference for good. It’s been well said that the darker the world, the brighter our light is. Let it shine! (Matt. 5:14-16; Phil. 2:15).
So how shall we respond to the evils of our day? Not by participating in them, not by reacting self-righteously, and not by withdrawing into inactivity.
So what shall we do? The letter we call 1 Peter has much to offer us. Christians then were struggling to maintain their integrity in a dark world in much the same way we do today. Peter urges his readers to maintain holy lives (1:14-16; 4:1-4) and live in such a way that unbelievers can’t help but notice the difference (2:11-12; 3:1-2, 16).
By the grace of God let’s hate sin but have enough concern for sinners so that they too will be drawn out of the darkness and into the light.
